Homecoming
by Cpt. Ritter
Summary: Azure left her world behind ten years ago, but thanks to Serene, she'll not only see her world again, but save it. Co-Author: Padme18
1. Off we go to Geman?

_A/N: This story is a joint writing effort between myself and Padme18._

The music was blasting from the comm system in her appartment. Serene had been working on packing up her belongings for the trip home for only a few days. The results, her apartment had turned into a disaster zone, with belongings haphazardly scattered in the small living room and kitchen area. Some were tagged for transport, others were still awaiting sorting. It was all dreadfully boring.

Every few minutes she'd change what she was packing, usually as the song changed. It was her usual way of doing things. It hadn't steered her wrong in what had become known as Operation Deimos.

"Some things never change I see?" Azure said pointing to the mess as she tried to find a place to sit.

Serene hadn't heard the Geman woman sneak in. Then again, she did have the music playing awfully loud, so it wasn't a surprise. "Nope." She replied in between stuffing some more of her clothes into a duffel bag. "Computer, 50% music volume." The music quickly changed to a dull roar in the background.

"Packing for home I see. When do you leave?" Azure asked as she found a place on the floor and stretched out.

"Yeah." Serene gestured to the mess all around her. "Dad wants me to get back to the fleet. Says he's got 'real work' for me."

"As opposed to what?" Azure smiled. "You just helped save the life of a high ranking official, that sounds like 'real work' to me."

Serene gave Azure an expression that very clearly meant, 'you know my dad.' "I'm sure he just misses me."

"I think the only one who misses me is my cousin. Malachi was the only one who didn't ostracize me for wanting to join Starfleet." She picked a piece of lint off her pants and looked at the floor.

"You know... I've know you how long... and you've not once really spoken about your family." Serene had very suddenly made the realization. She knew only a bit about Azure's planet, and she'd never taken the time to ask.

"Let's just say I didn't leave on good terms. My aunt and uncle didn't like my decision to join Starfleet, nor did any of my friends, or teachers. They're a proud people, they thought I should use my skills to help save lives there, not somewhere else." She sighed. "Family honor is a big thing to them. I didn't hold up my end in my aunt and uncle's view. After all, they took me in when my parent's died." She looked up at Serene. "You know how some people can be."

Serene nodded, sitting down on top of hexagonal packing crate that was laying sideways on the floor. "Trust me, I do. Makes you wonder if everyone was just nice to one another that we could all get along."

"Yeah, it kind of does."

"Have you spoken to them recently... like at all?" Serene had a feeling she knew the answer to this anyway.

"My cousin and I exchange mail, but I haven't talked to anyone else. Nothing to say. We kind of had it out before I left." Azure laid back on the floor, her long blue hair fanning out around her head.

"You're staying through the summer term, not going to visit?"

"And have them yell at me some more? No thank you. I'd rather spend my leave doing something fun. Maybe I'll go to the beach or something. Catch up on my reading. You know, the same things I always do." Azure rarely went to the beach. But anything sounded better than going back. This was her home now.

"What about your cousin though?"

She shrugged. "He has a job with the shuttle service, does regular flights between the provinces. Keeps him pretty busy. I'd have to try to get ahold of him and see if he was free. But I don't know, I doubt it would be a warm welcome."

"You know you won't be able to change that by just hiding here in San Francisco... or on a starship somewhere."

"Who says I want to change anything? I'm happy here."

Serene sighed. "Okay... you remember when I told you that when I was younger my dad was never around?"

Azure turned to face her. "Yeah, I remember, and your mom died when you were two right?"

"Yeah. Anyhow, my point is I hated my dad for it. There was a lot of hurt feelings, lots of anger, at least one 13-year-old temper tantrum." Serene shook her head before she went any further off course in her attempt to relate Azure's situation to something she'd been through. "But he came back and tried to make things right."

Serene sighed. "That analogy didn't work as well as I intended... still... even your aunt and uncle have to admit that saving some Admiral from possibly the most heavily fortified installation ever is a big deal right? That's doing good. Heck, it's got Geman on the map. Before you, nobody knew anything about your people."

Azure smiled weekly. "It did kind of put us on the map, so to speak. But I don't know, they aren't the easiest people to please." She trailed off.

Okay yeah, Serene wasn't gonna win this argument. Didn't mean it wouldn't be fun to try though. "Other friends?"

"I had a few, but they and kind of like my aunt and uncle. My best friend didn't like that I wanted to leave either. We didn't part on good terms. She got mad, I got mad, you know how teenage girls are."

"You think across cultures galaxy wide there'd be some variation..." Serene mused idly.

"You'd think so, but I think some things are universal."

"Damn when you say good terms, you really mean you didn't part on good terms. Isn't there anything about Geman you miss?"

Azure smiled. "The trees, you can see for miles depending on how far up you make it. And the wildlife. As dangerous as some of it can be, it is a beautiful place. I broke my arm when I was about six or seven because I climbed too high and branch broke. I was determined to climb higher than my cousin. We both got in trouble for that one."

"Still not enough to go back though right?"

"Serene, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I think this is something I have to do when I'm ready, and I just don't think I am."

Serene threw up her hands. "Alright, I give up. Still... you can't just sit around here all summer."

"Well, you got any other suggestions then?" Azure asked propping herself up with her elbows.

"Well, come with me. I'm sure Dad won't mind adopting another daughter. Mom will say something about how it's illogic and it'll be all good."

"Hmmm. Meet the famous Cunningham family in their natural habitat?" Azure jumped up. "Sounds like fun! What should I pack?"

Serene had a puzzled expression. "Stuff..."

Azure rolled her eyes. "I meant, anything special besides the basics?"

"Well... here's the thing... home for me is kinda a warship. We use the holodeck for anything that's not really the basics." Serene shrugged. "So the basics will probably be fine... it's not like you'll need an evening dress or a swim suit."

Azure nodded. "OK, then I should probably go pack a couple of bags. What time do we leave?"

Serene once again examined the mess. "Tomorrow morning. Yep... tomorrow morning. Dad's sending a shuttle for me."

Azure looked around at the chaos. "Are you sure you'll be ready? I can stay and help if you need it."

"Oh it's gonna be an all night thing." The human looked around once more. "Or I could just beam it all up into a transporter pattern buffer..."

Azure shook her head. Something tells me the latter is going to be what happens. I'll see you in the morning."

Serene nodded. "Thanks Azure... you know if you get a chance after you pack, drop by and you can help." She threw the Geman woman a devilish grin.

Azure laughed. "I'll be back as soon as I can, no one can pack an entire apartment in one night."


	2. Landfall

Serene had opted for the transporter pattern buffer routine. Which meant she had not made much progress at all, even with Azure's help throughout the night. On the plus side, she'd managed to pack one duffle bag outside of the rest that went into transporter stasis, so at least she'd have time to sort through the rest of it when she made it home.

Yet, by the same token, the human woman had also sent her belongings via another shuttle. Why? Well, Azure had learned it was best not to question Serene's sometimes questionable logic.

Either way, they departure from the academy had gone smoothly, with Serene showing off the piloting skills that she'd picked up growing up. The shuttle had raced up through the atmosphere and into warp.

Of course, they'd been at warp for several hours now. Azure had fallen asleep almost immediately after entering warp, and was thus blissfully unaware of where Serene was really taking her.

Serene didn't mind ultimately that her friend had passed out. She'd kept busy between listening to Risian pop music and plotting warp navigation routes on the fly. The rest of the time she'd spent browsing the extranet looking for information on the planet Geman.

There was a beep on her console and the shuttle immediately decanted from warp. Serene checked the sensors briefly, confirmed their location, then with a grin, looked over at Azure.

Azure heard the beep and stirred. She tried to turn over, but realized when she couldn't that she was asleep in a shuttle chair. She opened her eyes and turned to Serene. "Sorry I fell asleep, I was exhausted. I take it from that beeping we're here?" She looked out the cockpit window, but instead of a ship, she saw a green planet. "Serene, where are we exactly?"

"Geman." Serene replied bluntly.

Azure groaned. "What the bloody hell are we doing here?" Azure had taken up watching British Television shows and had adopted the phrase years ago.

"You see... the way I saw it..." Serene fidgeted in her chair. "You have unfinished business here. So, what better way to resolve it than to just confront it head on. At the very least I want to see your world! I mean... forests, volcanoes... what's not to like? I promise I won't even try to blow this one up."

Azure groaned and took a deep breath. They were here now, she couldn't turn back without Serene. She let out the breath she was holding. "Fine. I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do now, I know how you are when you put your mind to something, same as I am. And I do appreciate what you're trying to do."

Serene grinned. "Then my plan was a success... now to get landing clearance..." After a short while and a brief conversation with the Geman spaceport control, they were descending into the atmosphere.

The world was lush and almost completely green. The canopy below was thick with the tops of the jungle trees. Breaks in the jungle could be seen where towns and cities were, but they were sometimes hard to spot if not for the spires of the buildings. Mountains could be seen in the distance, but only the tops of the tallest ones had a light cap of snow. It was too warm anywhere else. A large sparkling blue ocean could be seen to the East on the other side of the jungle.

As they approached the spaceport for Azure's home, a medium sized city in the Western part of the Northern hemisphere named Machi, the city came into focus. Tall buildings packed closely together, with a mix of smaller ones of varying shapes and sizes. The spaceport was off from the rest with a road leading into the city. A park was in a central location in a city square, and around the outskirts of the city, homes could just barely be seen high the trees.

With a care and precision that was totally unlike Serene, the human set the shuttle down on the spaceport arrivals pad with a soft thump. Serene shut the shuttle down with a handful of commands. "Alright... let's go see that world!" She clambered out of her chair, grabbed her duffle and walked to the rear door of the shuttle and opened the hatch.

Azure grabbed her arm. "Not so fast! My world may look beautiful, but some species of plant and animal can be quite dangerous. If I say not to provoke or touch something, you have to listen to me. I don't need to be rushing you to the hospital to be pumped full of some antidote. I don't want to have to explain to you father why his daughter needs surgery to fix an injury. OK?"

Serene let out a whine not unlike a two year old. "Way to be Ms. Nancy Negative Azure..."

"I'm just saying, be cautious. Sometimes the flowers used for decoration in some places really shouldn't be stopped and smelled. Since we all grow up knowing what's what, there aren't always signs to warn the tourists."

"Well... that's dumb..."

Azure shrugged. "We don't get many long term visitors...And one more thing, you're the first true friend I've made in Starfleet, and to my people, friends are family. So, I'd like to introduce you as such. Would that be OK with you? You don't mind being my 'sworn sister', it's kind of like your version of a best friend."

"'Sworn sister' eh?" Serene frowned as she pondered the translation. "That so totally didn't translate right I think, but it'll be fine. I did grow up on a starship with a whole bunch of different species."

"Well, then let's go see if my cousin is working today. He does regular flights from here to the South."

They exited the ship with their bags and made their way inside to go through customs. They showed their IDs, and Azure answered the official when he asked what their stay was for and for how long. He waved them through and Azure went over to an office beside the ticketing counter.

She leaned against the door frame a minute unnoticed. A man with short dark green hair sat behind a desk doing paperwork. When he didn't' look up, Azure sighed.

"What does a girl have to do around here to get a welcome home?"

The man's head shot up in surprise. "Azure!" He jumped up and walked over, picking up the shorter woman in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi there." Serene threw the green haired man a grin.

Azure through her arm around Serene's shoulder. "My 'sworn sister', Serene, here convinced, well, dragged me against me will back here."

"I just didn't tell you where I was taking us... it's your fault for passing out before we left orbit."

Azure rolled her eyes. He looked both of them over. "Well, your timing is just about perfect Serene." He held out a hand. "I'm Malachi, Azure's cousin."

Serene took his hand with a mischievous grin. "A gentlemen already, and you said people weren't friendly here Azure..."

Malachi smiled back. "Well, I'm not sure how friendly everyone else will be. Anyway, there's a party tonight, you guys should come, it will give Azure a chance to see everyone."

"A party? I so shoulda brought that skirt..." Serene shrugged. "Oh well... I'll just have to work with what I have."

"What sort of party?" Azure asked.

Malachi sighed. "It's a birthday party, for Risa."

Azure glared at him. "Are you crazy?"

"No offense to Serene here, but Risa was you're sworn sister first."

"Exactly, was. Not anymore."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Azure, will you just come and give her a chance to explain her actions? It was a long time ago, people change."

"Of course she will. We'll both come." Serene sensed Azure was about to protest and lightly elbowed the other woman in the gut."Won't we, Azure?"

"Fine." She said. "We'll be at the Arbre Hotel."

"I'll swing by and get you at 1800."

Azure nodded and lead them outside. Waiting at the entrance was the Geman version of a bus. A carriage with a couple rows of seats and a place for cargo underneath was hovering just off the ground and connected by a harness to a rather large lizard. The lizard had brown skin, with a long lean body. It's claws had been trimmed for safety, but being an herbivore, it retained it's teeth. A leather strap was around it's body to connect it to the "bus", and the other end of the bridle was held by the driver perched on a seat in front.

Azure walked right up to it without hesitating and accepted the help of a man already on board in climbing up.

Serene stood dumbfounded for a second at the taxi platform. "Woah... a real... that some kind of lizard?"

Azure chuckled. "Yes. it's called a Gantlya. We use them much like your people used to use horses."

"Can I... pet it?" Serene was still standing there, her mouth ajar. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"You can pet one later, the driver has a schedule to keep." She held out a hand to take her bag.

Serene hesitated for just a second, then grabbed Azure's hand and jumped up into the carriage, throwing her duffle into her lap. "Oh fine."

Once she was seated the driver gave a command and the lizard walked forward. The ride was a bit slow compared to a shuttle, but surprisingly smooth. The carriage was open, allowing Serene to see the sites, however, a canopy could be put in place in case of rain. And rain it sometimes did, they didn't call it the rainy season for nothing. The air was currently humid, and warm, but in a few hours it would be even hotter.

When they reached the hotel, Azure indicated it was time to get off, along with most of the other passengers. Azure rooted around in a secret compartment in her bag where she had stashed what was left of her cash when she left. She had never taken it out since she didn't have to exchange it for another form. Finding a few coins of the right value, she put them in the electronic slot attached to the driver's seat and gave a nod of thanks.

"What was that?" Serene asked, looking at the slot where Azure had just deposited the coins.

"We have an economy here, everyone gets paid for their work, and uses that money to buy what they need."

Serene's eyes went wide. "Wait... you said money? That totally wasn't in the extranet file on your planet."

Azure shrugged. "I guess whoever wrote it forgot to put it in or something. Don't worry though, I have access to my parent's old bank accounts, and I have one of my own since I worked through school."

"But it's not gonna be an issue... I mean... is it expensive? I'm gonna have to figure out some way to pay you back, which will be tricky as we don't have money in the Federation..." Serene trailed off, clearly deep in thought.

"It depends on your definition of expensive, and how long we stay, what we do, etc. A bus ride is cheap. And this is the only decent hotel in the city, the other is mainly used by University students, so it's always overrun this time of year with school being out. But don't worry, it will be fine. We'll figure out some way you can 'pay me back' later."

Serene was still frowning, but seemed a bit more at ease. "Okay. So let's check in... then I want to change into some lighter clothes... it's way too warm here for pants and a jacket."

Azure nodded and went to the reception desk to get a room with two double beds. She was handed two key cards and asked if they needed help with their bags, but Azure shook her head no.

"Ok, we're on the seventh floor, got us a view of of the park too. Lifts are this way."

Serene followed Azure.

XXX

Azure changed as well into something a little more fitting for the whether. She unfortunately hadn't brought her old Geman clothes, not that she was sure they'd even still fit her after eight years. She instead had settled for a dark colored tank top and a pair of black shorts with sandals and had pulled her long blue hair into a ponytail to get it off her neck. She had also gone through her cash and found her old bank card wish she luckily had kept with her cash.

Azure looked at a wall mounted clock, it was almost time for the party. "Malachi should be here soon, we should get downstairs."

Serene was in the process of finishing tying her shoe. "I think I've never actually lived in a tropical climate... I'm totally not prepared for this." She finished and jumped to her feet. Her solution to the heat had been to switch to her exercise clothes, a moisture wicking t-shirt and shorts, both a bright shade of purple, edging towards pink.

Azure stared at her and tried to suppress a laugh. "Oh my, that's going to make you stick out just a bit." She jokingly said holding up her fingers with just a smidgen of space between them. "Didn't you bring anything a little less...conspicuous? Most young people here wear similar things to what you would. Just accented with traditional touches. We've been importing clothes and fabric from Federation worlds for some time after all."

Serene gave Azure a puzzled look. "So what... dull boring colors then?"

"No, not always. We were bright colors too, but when your hair is a bright color you'd want to balance it, and vice versa. Do have another pair of shorts? The top is fine, but too much of one color isn't always a good thing."

Serene sighed and began digging through her bag again. After a few seconds she pulled out another pair of similar shorts, except these were more of a soft blue. "Best I got." She held up a hand to stop Azure for a second. "No... I'm not going back to pants in this heat."

"I don't expect you to. Those will work fine."

Serene nodded. "Good then let's roll before we're anything greater than fashionably late."

"You, know, I never quite understood that phrase of yours."

XXX

Downstairs in the lobby they were met by Malachi, another man with bright blue spiky hair, and a woman with long pink hair that was tied back.

Azure balked.

Serene glanced at the trio, then back to Azure. "So... would this be a bad time to ask what happened between you and... uhhh... Risa?'"

"Now's as good a time as any." She sighed. "Risa thought we would all go off to the same University, graduate, and all live happily ever after. She thought I wasn't serious about applying to Starfleet Academy, so when I did, and got accepted, she got mad. I tried to convince her not to say anything until I was ready to announce it, but she couldn't keep her mouth shut."

"That's not petty at all." Serene commented, sarcasm clearly dripping in her voice..

"She went straight to my aunt and uncle and told them. Which caused them to get even more mad at me. She sided with them trying to convince me to stay. Malachi was the only one to support my decision and recognize that it was my decision. When I wouldn't change me mind, she treated me the way everyone else did, shunning me for leaving." She paused trying to find the right words. "It's hard to explain, but to my family and people, I should have stayed and used my talents to help here. They don't believe in getting involved in the Federation's business. They aren't afraid of other species or speciesist or anything, they just...want to keep to themselves. Since I didn't, I as the odd one, and they didn't like that."

Serene had stayed remarkably silent throughout the Azure's explanation. "Maybe this is my human upbringing speaking, but why would... nevermind... dumb question... so you're saying this entire thing started because she told on you that you were going to join Starfleet..." The blond woman shook her head. "That's just plain sad."

Azure thought for a moment. "Yeah, it kind of is. I guess, I just didn't quite realize it, or look at it from a different perspective."

"I mean, mom... well my step mother anyway, is a Vulcan. They're all expected to go to the Vulcan Science Academy, she didn't. Her family didn't get all up in arms..." Serene trailed off suddenly. "Okay bad example, she's a Vulcan. There's no emotion there. It just seems dumb to me and you know I'll say that to their face if they bring it up right?"

"Yeah, Vulcan's are really not the best example of anything emotional." Azure joked. "And I wouldn't expect anything less from you." She smiled.

With a deep breath she walked over to the three. "Hello. Risa, Kai. This is Serene."

"Hey, long time no see! We were beginning to think you'd gone off and forgotten about us." Kai, ever the joker, said in reply.

"Serene, this is Malachi's friend Kai and Risa."

"Hi there." Serene extended a hand as a greeting.

Before Azure could say anything else, Risa stepped forward and started talking all at once. "I'm sorry for how I acted back then. I shouldn't have told your aunt an uncle about you joining Starfleet Academy before you were ready. Or ignored you, or treated you the way I did. I know that now. I just always thought we'd go to University together and room together and do everything else together. When you said you going to leave and go to school millions of light years away, I panicked," Risa explained. "I've wanted to call you or something for years, but I never knew what to say." She paused, "I really am sorry Azure. I never meant to hurt your feelings the way I did. Can you forgive me_?_"

"Woah..." Serene was taken aback by the sudden avalanche of apologies from Risa and interrupted.

Azure smiled. "I think I can do that. Serene was just telling me how stupid it all sounded anyway." She shrugged. "We were teenagers, after all. I should have tried harder to explain to you why I wanted to leave. After my parent's died, I just always wanted to leave."

Risa smiled and launched herself at Azure throwing her arms around her. "I see you're still one for theatrics," Azure said giving her a hug back.

Serene smiled. "Well... that went well. Probably too well. Something so has to go wrong later."

Azure glared at her. "Well, maybe my aunt and uncle will be like Risa here."

Malachi shook his head. "I wouldn't count on it, Aze." He used her old childhood nickname.

Azure ignored him. "All right, let's get this over with then. I'm kind of afraid now who's going to come out of the woodwork at this party."

XXX

A short ride later, Azure and the others arrived at the party. It was being held at Risa's parent's home, a traditional tree house style home built high off the jungle floor to avoid certain jungle creatures. Even though most of the population now lived in the apartments and homes in the heart of the city, the traditional homes could still be found on the outskirts of most cities.

"And here I thought this was gonna be more like your typical backyard BBQ." Serene gazed up at the treehouse before looking back at Azure and the others.

"Barba what?" Malachi asked confused. Clearly the phrase had lost something in the translation.

"She means cooking food over a fire and grill," Azure explained.

The others nodded in understanding.

"Human tradition." Serene mentioned idly.

"We do that too at times, we just call it something different."

After taking a elevator up to a series of platforms that connected to other homes, Malachi and the others quickly walked over to Risa's. Azure stopped, took a deep breath, and then followed them.

Malachi opened the front door and stepped in, "Well, everyone, look decided to come to the party?"

Risa and Kai came in and stepped aside so Serene and Azure could enter. "Azure finally came home, and just in time!" Risa said excitedly.

Risa's comment was followed by silence as Azure stepped inside. Looks of shock stared back at her. She swallowed. "Hello." Most of those present had never seen a human and their looks quickly went from Azure to Serene.

Serene grinned despite herself. "Hi there, guys." She appeared to be completely unfazed by the eyes of twenty or so Gemans staring at her.

After the initial shock wore off, the party guests went back to what they were doing.

"Okay… that was more like you said." Serene glanced back over at Azure.

"I should make the rounds, thank everyone for coming, but you and Serene are welcome to anything," Risa said with a smile indicating a table laden with food and drinks. Malachi followed her and true to what Azure remembered, Kai made a B-line for the food and began piling it on a plate.

"He always could pack it away," Azure said with an amused smile. Then her eyes fell on the aunt and uncle standing with Risa's parent's across the room. "I hate to leave you alone in a strange place, but I think I should do this alone."

"Azure… I grew up on a warship." Serene rolled her eyes at the Geman. "I can take care of myself… and some of these Gemans do have pretty hair..." With that, Serene was off, heading towards the refreshment table and a pack of male guests.

Azure took a deep breath and made her way across the room. When she reached the four older Gemans she turned to Risa's parents first and bowed. "It is a pleasure to see you again. I hope the family of my sworn sister is in good health."

Risa's mother, a tall tan Geman with dark red hair smiled. "It is a pleasure to see you again as well, Azure. We are indeed in good health. I know Risa has longed to have her sworn sister home." The woman gave her a hug and flashed Azure's aunt and uncle a 'be kind' look over her shoulder."

"We are glad you have decided to finally come home. You and your friend are welcome to stay and enjoy the party," Risa's father said before also giving her a quick hug. They then gave a nod and excused themselves.

Azure then turned to her aunt and uncle and bowed. "I ask you to forgive me for my behavior when I was younger, and accept me back as your niece." She kept her head bowed until they answered.

"You admit that you were wrong?"

Azure's head snapped up. "No. What I did was they right choice for me at the time. I was not wrong, but I could have handled it better, but you could have listened better too."

"You dishonored the family."

"It was never my intention to do so. I was always told that I could be whatever I wanted, and become what I wanted. I wanted to join Starfleet and become a doctor, I thought that would bring the family honor. On other worlds, Starfleet Officer's are respected."

Her uncle let out a heavy sigh. "But we are not a Federation World, why would you want to join their Starfleet? Why would they even accept you as one of them?"

"Because I needed to get away, I couldn't stay here." Azure voice was beginning to rise. "Everything reminded me of my parent's in some way, I tried to tell you that. But all you saw was me leaving and doing something you didn't approve of. And they do accept me at Starfleet."

They looked like they were considering this. "Then why not come home sooner? Why wait almost ten years?"

"I didn't come because I didn't think I was wanted! Besides, communication goes both ways, Malachi knew how to get ahold of me, if you wanted me to come home all you had to do was send me a message." Azure was almost yelling now. They still weren't getting it.

"Perhaps, we all could have tried harder to communicate, then and now." Azure's aunt gave her husband a look. As the sister of Azure's mother, she had tried to do right by her niece and do what she thought her sister would want for her daughter.

"Then why not just come alone? Why bring, what exactly is she anyway?" Her uncle, always the hard one to convince being a stickler for the Old Ways.

Azure fumed at the attack on her friend. "Her name is Serene, and she's been a good friend, worthy of being called a sworn sister, and she's the reason I'm here in the first place." A few guests turned to stare, including Serene.

"Dear, Azure is right." Her aunt sighed. "My Dear Azure, there is no need to raise your voice, I think we can come to some…" but she was cut off by a loud explosion and quake that shook the trees and building.

Serene darted across the room in a flash to the nearest window. When Azure finally caught up, she saw what had Serene's jaw wide open. In the distance, near the top of one of the mountains, fire was spewing into the sky, turning it black. Molten lava streamed down the side of the mountain and down into the valley, lighting the trees on fire, and a large black and grey cloud of smoke was rising into the air.

"That's not normal is it?" Serene was looking at a small tricorder she'd keep in one of her pockets, even as she spoke to Azure.

Azure shook her head solemnly. "No. That's what a volcano looks like when it blows, and I'm guessing the early warning system failed."

"I totally didn't do it, by the way." Serene chuckled and gestured for Azure to take a look at the readings. "You see these seismic anomalies?"

Azure manages a small smile. "Not this time, at least." She then looked down at the readings. "Yeah, and if I can remember my physical science class from The Academy, they aren't good."

Serene swallowed visibly. "There's also an enormous amount of seismic pressure building up right underneath our feet…"

No sooner had she finished her sentence than another tremor nearly knocking everyone off their feet. Well… Serene managed to stay up. Sirens began to wail as in the distance, the entire spaceport abruptly sank into the earth.

Azure grabbed the window ledge, catching herself from hitting the floor completely.

Malachi made his way over to them and looked out the window. He cursed under his breath when he saw the smoke coming from where the spaceport was, or used to be.

"Oh, that's really not good." Azure said.

"Dad's so gonna kill me..."

"That is if we make it out of here."

Serene was staring at the reading again. "If I'm reading this right… the underground lava flow is literally going to collapse the ground under us. The entire plateau is going down. That's not right..." She looked back at Azure, then at the others in the room.

Azure stared back at her, hitting her on the shoulder. "There's no need to scare everybody more than they already are!" she said inclining her head to their audience. "As it is, they won't be able to evacuate anyone without help from another city."

Serene punched Azure back, but didn't respond.

"She's right, with the shuttle port gone, the whole evacuation plan is thrown off," Malachi said.

Azure thought a moment and looked back at Serene, "Something tells me we're going to have to violate a few rules if we are going to save as many people as possible."

Serene put the tricorder away and faced Azure with her hands on her hips. "I'm not about to sit around and do nothing."

Azure smiled. "Neither am I. Besides, you father will never forgive me if I don't keep you from getting yourself killed in the process."

"We do need to send a subspace message to Starfleet though. You guys have a subspace transceiver?"

"There was one at the Spaceport, but I think there's another one at the Town Hall," Malachi answered her.

"There is, they use it for secure messages," Risa said.

"I'll go to Town Hall and contact your dad."

"Screw that." Serene grabbed Malachi's hand to stop him. "General broadcast on all channels requesting immediate assistance. Dad will get the message, but he's on the other side of the Federation."

"We'll just have to trust that someone will come," Azure said. "In the meantime, we do what we do best. Save the day."

"So… we need to get down underneath the city. Are there caves or caverns?" Serene looked to the crowd around her. "I need to see what's going on… and preferably not burn alive doing it."

"There's an old cave network at the base of one of the mountains, but we have to go through the jungle to get there," Azure said.

"How far? And are we going to be eaten on the way?" Serene's questions were always so direct.

"A couple of miles, we can take a hover-bike so we get there faster. As for the animals, they usually have an instinct about natural events like this, I'd be willing to bet they are fleeing the area."

"Great, I'm driving." Serene looked down. "We're gonna need a change of clothes… something heat resistance but covering and climbing gear… any of you think you can hook us up?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah, my family's into rock climbing. I can get you the gear."

"We have heat resistant gear that might fit you at the station," Risa's father, a firefighter, offered.

"Then let's meet down the street at the bus stop as soon as possible," Azure told them.

"Azure… let's get back to the hotel, I brought some things we may need down there."

They had a plan, one Azure reflected was probably stupid beyond reason. However, if they didn't do anything, they were, screwed.


	3. Core Temperature

To say they were flying fast would do a huge disservice to Serene's flying. In fact, they were probably flying faster than the hover bike was rated to safely operate at. That didn't take into account that the canopy of the trees were only a few meters below them.

Serene's earlier bright fashion statement had been cut off when they'd dug up the firefighting equipment. Surprisingly though, even though both women were now covered from the neck downward in fire retardant black jumpsuits, neither was overheating. With the headwind, it was even downright cool.

Serene's hair poked out from the bottom of the bike helmet she wore. "You alright back there?" Her voice echoed through the helmet comm units.

Azure held on for dear life. She knew Serene was a bit crazy, and they were pressed for time, but they were going entirely too fast for her liking. "Yeah. Fine…Serene, watch out for the that bird, it eats meat," she said pointing ahead to a large mottled brown bird with a yellow and black plume that leaped off a tree and spread it's wings to fly away a couple of feet in front of them.

Serene immediately throttled down and dived into the space between trees. "You might want to hold on." The human woman rapidly dodged between trees, once again throttling back up to near her original speed.

Azure tightened her grip and squinted her eyes shut. As the bike throttled back up, she did her best to stay on and not go tumbling off into the trees. "Serene, it would be nice if we made it to the cave system alive," she said.

Serene snickered. "Yeah, but we can at least have fun doing it. Besides… time is of the essence." She very abruptly turned the hoverbike up and shot above the trees again. The bird in question was now long behind them.

Azure gritted her teeth. "The caves are just up ahead."

Serene throttled back and set the bike down near the entrance to the cave. She climbed off, setting her helmet on the controls. "On foot from here I think." She cast a look into the cave, which got dark very fast. Before them was the face of one of the larger mountains. The ground trembled slightly from an aftershock as they stood there.

"Good thing this one is just a few down from the volcano," Azure commented leaving her helmet sitting on the back seat. Ash was beginning to fall from the spewing volcano. "Let's get going, it's going to get worse real quick." She opened a cargo area on the back of the bike and began pulling out the gear Kai had loaned them and the suit's heat resistant helmets.

The helmets had build in temperature reading and vitals monitoring, all of which was hooked into the jumpsuits they wore. Serene pulled her's on and quickly checked that everything was working. "Ambient temperature is 32 degree celsius. Yeah… that feels about right." She proceeded to fasten the extra belts and harnesses for the climbing gear.

Azure secured her own helmet and did a quick check. "Let's go.""

With her tricorder once again in hand and a flashlight on and strapped to her wrist, Serene led the way into the cave. The relatively spacious entryway quickly narrowed into smaller tunnels that occasionally opened into larger areas. The walls were smooth as polished glass and the ground under their feet almost slippery.

"Hey Azure… these caves look like there was magma flow in them at one point. Know anything about that? Maybe in the past?" Serene carefully stepped down off of a small ledge.

"It's obsidian. It's volcanic rock, black as pitch and as sharp as glass. These mountains are all connected by the tunnels. I think the magma of the nearby volcanoes pushed it's way up and burned through the rock, then came out through the tunnels. That's why the area around here is so lush, the forest eventually grows back stronger than ever."

"Yeah, I know that. I was thinking more from a historical standpoint. Clearly it's not everyday that your spaceport falls into the earth." Serene continued down a smooth ramp, sliding slowly on the smooth floor.

"This area hasn't been active in over a 100 years, that's why it's been built up. The more time passed without even a minor eruption, the less cautious the people got, and the city grew. In hindsight, they should have known it would eventually happen at some point."

"Well… it was here at one point… so this is probably the right path." Serene stopped sliding and was scanning again. There was a large shaft running directly down from where they stood. "There's a lot of heat coming from down there."

"Then I say we follow the heat and see where it takes us."

Serene planted a tiny beacon in the ground from her belt, then attached the zip line's clamp" to the ground. "On small step…" She jumped backwards, holding onto the line, which caught almost immediately in her grip. "Glad that worked, let's roll." Serene started rappelling down the shaft, using small nooks in the wall to control her descent while releasing more line as she went.

Azure followed after her, keeping a couple of feet above her. "The temperature reading's are going up, I think we're on the right track."

Serene glanced over her shoulder and down. "Still can't see or hear any magma flows… or really see the bottom…" She kept climbing for what seemed to be an eternity, though in reality it'd only been maybe two hundred meters. It was just slow going.

"I just hope there's a place to set down, I'd hate to land right on a magma flow." Azure pushed off from the wall of the shaft and rappelled down past Serene. "The shaft's got to end at some point," she said looking up at Serene.

Serene pushed off and mimicked Azure's rappel. That's when her line abruptly slipped. "_Hu'tegh!_" Serene spat in Klingon and grabbed for the wall. Her hand found purchase and just for a second Serene held herself flush with the wall, feeling her heart pounding in her chest.

Azure tensed. "Careful. I don't want to have to catch you. Telekinesis works great for moving things, but it's not the best way to stop a moving or falling object."

Serene took another deep breath. "Okay, with less haste this time." She started climbing again, keeping a close eye on her line as they neared the bottom of the shaft.

They set down on a sharp, narrow ledge. It was dark and hard to see, but much hotter. "Stay close to the wall, this ledge is very narrow in some places." She reached up and switched on a light on the helmet that illuminated a small area in front of her allowing her to see more than a foot in front of her and took a tentative step forward.

"Damn, and I thought we'd stopped climbing." Serene shined her light at their feet and keep her eyes down as she followed Azure deeper. "Temperature is up to 35." Thankfully the air filtration and cooling system in their masks kept cool air available for both of them to breath.

The ledge curved around with the wall and Azure followed it slowly. The temperature continued to rise the further they went. After a few minutes, the ledge opened up onto a large cliff overlooking a pocket of magma.

"Well, we found underground magma. In all it's boiling glory." Serene was once again scanning. "This doesn't look unstable though…"

Azure scanned the area with her eyes. "That way," she pointed to where the cliff turned back into a pathway, this time wider than the last. "If we keep following it we should find what we are looking for. In theory."

Azure started toward the path and began following it around. It began to curve around. She could see a red orange glow up ahead in the distance. "I think we're almost there," she said looking back at Serene.

Serene kept her right hand on the rock wall for purchase. "Temperature's going up… 50 celsius and climbing, let's hope we don't get a suit rupture."

"Let's hope." They went a few more feet before coming to the mouth of a wide open chamber much larger than the last. "Whoa. That's a lot of magma."

Serene's tricorder was out again. The sensor footprint identified that at one point the magma level had been drastically lower. The chamber was a vast cavern that had been hollowed out over time by the volcanic flow, leaving behind massive columns that basically held the ceiling up.

The more direct route that they'd taken below ground meant they were right below the city they'd left on hover bike. Azure couldn't see the look of concern on Serene's face as she dived deeper into the reading.

"So… the problem looks like it's twofold." Serene said after almost a minute. It was rare that the women was ever speechless for so long.

"Just twofold?" Azure asked carefully turning around to look at her. "Could you be a bit more specific than that?"

"Well… the reading on those columns that are getting slowly eroded by the magma is that there's an enormous amount of weight on them. They might've been able to take it awhile ago… but with all that magma…" Serene's voice trailed off.

"It's too much pressure, if it keeps building it won't be good, and if it's removed too quickly like in an eruption with all the force pushing it out, same thing." She sighed. "What can we do to give them as much time as possible to evacuate?"

I'm thinking… there's a few side chambers, but they're already submerged in more magma… what if… there!" Serene gestured to a small ledge that had formed around the side of the chamber. It was barely a quarter of a meter in width. "There's a few more open areas that way, maybe if we can drain the magma from this place a bit we can buy them time."

"Drain it? I guess it's worth a shot. Let's go." She again carefully turned and set off in the direction Serene had indicated.

"It's gonna involve… making a new channel…" Serene carefully added the last bit. She was being evasive and was sure Azure would pick up on what she was implying.

Azure sighed, almost afraid to ask. "Please, tell me you just happened to bring explosives along for no apparent reason, and that's what we stopped to get at the hotel, and that we're going to use them to blast a new channel?"

Serene grinned under the dark faceplate of her helmet. "I figured… just in case we get trapped we might need some explosive pressure… and I had this one left over from Operation Deimos."

Azure threw her head back and laughed. She had to hand it to Serene, she really loved her explosives, which this time was a good thing. "Had it left over? Really, after intentionally blowing up the last volcano we encountered?"

Serene chuckled. "Would've been overkill."

Azure's one foot slipped off the edge and she tettered for a moment before she caught herself. "That will teach me to pay closer attention to what I'm doing," she said looking over at the magma a couple of feet away.

"Careful… I really don't want to tell your sworn sister here that you fell into the lava." Despite the danger, Serene was laying on the humor, in between using climbing spikes to keep hold of the wall as they climbed along the edge towards the back of the chamber.

It was a few more minutes before they came out to a smaller open area Serene had been talking about. The narrow ledge gave way to a raised area that the magma only occasionally washed up near, like the beach and the ocean.

Serene was scanning again. "Okay… now I need to find the weak point… only one and I need to focus the blast. Find me a rock or cut one, you did bring your phaser right?"

"Rule number one, never leave home without it." Azure began looking around for a small rock they could use. She finally setting for cutting a chunk off a piece sticking out where the wall met the ledge.

"Eureka!" Serene's cry of excitement echoed loudly over the suit comms.

Azure jumped. "For cyrin' out loud, Serene don't give me a heart attack!"

Serene turned to face Azure and point at some line in the ground she'd found. "I found an old fault line, this thing will crack clean to the sea!"

"Perfect! The magma will hit the sea and cool, plus it's just on the other side of the mountains so it won't have far to go, or take very long."

"And here I promised I wouldn't try to blow up your volcanos right?"

"Technically, you aren't, It's already in the process of blowing up. You're just blowing a hole in a wall of rock."

"Just keep telling yourself that." Serene pulled her phaser off her belt and started cutting into the ground. "If you can, get a few more rocks too, we'll want to focus as much of the blast as we can downward."

"Got it." Azure began cutting more pieces off and gathering up a few small ones she found.

By the time she finished, Serene was in the process of placing the homemade explosive into the ground, she was messing with the electronics. "So problem…"

Azure was almost afraid to ask. "I do hate it when someone says there's a problem."

"Well… we did saying something had to go wrong…"

"Ugh, why does something always have to go wrong?"

"The remote detonation antennae is slightly melted from the heat…. I did design these for the snow."

"Does that mean it won't work?"

"Oh no… it'll work… but I've gotta set the timer and we gotta hope nothing goes wrong."

"Here's to hoping then," Azure said handing over the rest of the rocks.

Azure could hear Serene exhale over the comm. "Well… thirty minutes should be enough I think." The human woman pointed to the rocks. "Let's get these into position, then head back the way we came." Serene brushed some dirt back over the explosive.

"We'll have to move a little faster just to be sure we don't get caught down here when it goes." She turned to start making her way back towards the entrance they came in at. She moved as fast as she dared while still being as careful as possible.

They hadn't made it back to the original landing yet when there was a violent shudder that passed through the cavern. Serene rammed a climbing spike into the wall and held on for dear life. Loose rocks from the ceiling crashed downwards, splashing magma.

Azure flailed a little taking a few steps back and grabbing a climbing spike before jamming into the rock just in time. She held on and flattened herself out against the wall as the rocks came tumbling towards them. When the tremor stopped she glanced over at Serene. "That was close."

Serene pointed ahead of them. "Umm… I think we're not quite good yet… look, that tremor collapsed our way in."

Azure cursed. "_Shtako_! That's not a good sign. Do you think we can climb over it?"

Glancing at the collapsed tunnel, Serene knew immediately the response. "Not unless you can swim through magma and these suits aren't rated for that."

Azure took a deep breath. "Then what are we going to do?"

Still holding onto the wall, despite the tremors having passed, an idea pass through Serene's mind. "How far is the city from the spaceport?"

"Not far, a mile or so, the spaceport was built on the outskirts. It's used to farther, but not anymore."

"It already collapsed… so maybe… maybe we can get up through that hole in the ground?"

"It's worth a shot, and I don't see any other options."

Serene flipped open her tricorder. "Okay… there's another set of ledges beyond where we planted the explosive. It's due… north… which is the direction of the spaceport right?"

"Coincidentally...North."

"Okay then… let's move… we've already lost 5 minutes." Serene started climbing back the way they came, keeping the tricorder out.

Minutes crept by in silence as the two women wordlessly made their way along the narrow ledges, both very aware that Serene's explosive was going to blow very soon. The ledge gave way eventually to a wider ledge and a channel that magma was already flowing down, but the edges were still passable.

Serene picked up the pace, a timer on her helmet's HUD showing that they had not enough time. As they ran along the edge she said, "So… how's the trip home?"

"If we live through this, I'll let you know," Azure said carefully making her way after Serene.

Serene's gleeful chuckle was totally out of place. "Well… at least it's not boring right?"

"Serene, being your friend is never boring. Life threatening at times, yes, but boring, no."

Silence prevailed as Serene led Azure up a ramp that took them up above the magma flow into a parallel chamber.

Azure hesitantly looked down. She wasn't afraid of heights, you couldn't grow up living in a tree house and be afraid of heights, but being afraid of falling into molten lava was a different story altogether. "It shouldn't' be much further I'd think."

That was right when another tremor tore through the cavern, it was followed by what had to be Serene's explosive going off. The human woman's foot slipped and before she could find purchase started sliding off the ledge they were on. She fumbled trying to grab her climbing spikes.

Azure fell forward, slamming into the ramp. She began to slide down it but grabbed onto the jagged piece sticking out of the wall. As she looked up, she saw Serene begin to fall. "Serene!" She threw out a hand trying to use her telekinesis to keep the other woman from completely going over the edge.

Serene caught Azure's hand at the last second. Her feet dangled off the edge as she reached for a climbing spike and rammed it into the ground. She held there as the ground continued to shake all around them.

As the tremor finally ceased, Azure let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Serene, you all right?"

"Oh yeah… fine… just nearly slipped and fell into boiling hot lava, you?"

"Same."

Serene tugged on Azure's arm and her climbing spike, crawling back to her feet. "Come on, that fault line should still be breaking apart, we can expect more tremors."

Once they were both on their feet, they went as fast as they could. Eventually the path opened up to sunlight. Sheer cliff walls indicated where the cavern had once stood, until it had collapsed under the weight of the spaceport. Jagged remains of metal where mostly all that remained, though there were some impressive debris piles, some reaching almost to the top.

"Hopefully, the shuttle still works," Azure said as she began climbing out.

Serene had the tricorder out. "Yeah… I doubt that, but maybe the comm beacon or the transporter.. if we can find it." She walked slowly and carefully on top of the debris.

Azure pulled herself up onto a pile of debris. "I think that's it over there." She pointed to a shuttle craft that was nose down in a pile of rocks.

Serene blinked. "Well… how'd I miss that… I should know Type 9 shuttles like the back of my hand." She ran over towards it, looking for a way to climb up into the back hatch.

Azure followed after her, picking her way over the rocks. "Let's hope it's systems aren't too damaged, and that we don't have to blast the hatch open."

"Yeah… already used my only explosives." Serene pulled herself up, using the nacelle on the bottom of the shuttle as a ladder. "I can almost reach the panel, Azure, can you give me a hand?" She was just a few centimeters short of the next hand hold.

"Yeah, sure." Azure pulled herself up next to Serene. She then took a deep breath, "Here goes." With her mind, she envisioned the button depressing and concentrated. There was a click and the hatch sprung open with gust of fresh air.

Serene looked up. "Okay… now I still need to get up there to find the inside. Can you like… make a ledge with your mind that I can step on or something?"

Azure rolled her eyes. A couple of the rocks began to carefully rearrange themselves making handholds that Serene could reach in an almost perfect path up to the shuttle.

"Show off." Serene quickly scrambled up them and rolled into the back of the shuttle. The inside was pretty banged up, with jagged pieces of metal having torn through the outer hull. The cockpit was a wash completely.

Azure followed her up. "Sorry, I can't make something out of nothing, I can only make something out of something else," Azure said quoting an old Fairy Tale program for her childhood.

"Okay… looks like I found the transporter controls and they've got enough juice for one transport."

"Only one, huh? Then we better make it count." Azure said pulling herself into the shuttle.

"Warp and impulse reactors are gone, so we're looking at the bare minimums here. Siruzu could probably fix this, but I can't." Serene was standing on the forward bulkhead, using a control panel on the side of the ship just under a support beam from the spaceport that had punched clean through.

"Well, we'll have to remember to bring her along next time we decide to take a holiday."

"Alrighty… cause I don't know how much juice we've really got, I'm targetting the surface just outside the collapse, ready to go be heroes?"

"Ready."

Serene toggled the control and with a beep and a slow whine, both women were enveloped in light and transported away.

Azure and Serene dropped to the ground with a thump as the transporter finished it's last effort. Above them, the brilliant sunlight from above shone brightly in the sky. Just behind them, the massive hole where the spaceport had been was now at least a hundred meters deep and cracked all the way up the mountain.

"Well… that went well." Serene pulled herself to her feet and pulled the helmet off. "Mind you, I'm not sure if it's better with the suit on or off." The human shook out her hair, then pulled her tricorder back out to scan.

Azure sat up and took her helmet off too. "At least the suits kept us from roasting alive down there." She looked towards the city. "I suppose we now have to walk back?"

"In a second, I'm checking our handiwork." Serene stared at the small displays.

"Good, or bad?" Azure looked towards the mountain. The cloud of gas and ash hung over the top of it, but seemed like it wasn't getting any bigger. Which was a good sign. A light rain of ash was beginning to fall, blown by the wind, but nothing too terrible.

Serene jumped up in the air. "Taha! One new lava channel clean through to the sea on the other side of them moutain!"

Azure jumped up. "Really? That's great!"

"I mean, it's probably not permanent… but you'd need a geophysicist to really tell." She glanced back down at the ruins of the spaceport. "Oh yeah… and… you're gonna need a new spaceport."

"We'll probably need a few more things too, depending on the damage to the rest of the city."

"Good thing you happen to know the daughter of an Admiral in Starfleet right?" Serene chuckled as she swatted some ash from the fire retardant jumpsuit.

Azure laughed. "Yeah, good thing indeed."

"Come on, back down to the city. Don't suppose there's a way to call a cab up here is there?" Serene began to walk down the road that lead towards the town.

"Probably all taken up in the evac attempt. I think we are going to huff it, at least until we run into someone."

Serene sighed loudly. "Totally should've put on the sunblock."


	4. Afterward

They arrived back at the main square of the city with their hair and suits covered in ash, and their hair plastered to the sides of their faces. They were still trying to round people up to evacuate. The streets had jagged cracks in them of various thicknesses and lengths, trees had been uprooted, and the foundations of several buildings were cracked. There was no telling what the damage was to the city infrastructure, but given the downed power lines, Azure was sure that there was a lack of power.

"Come on, City Hall is this way. We should report the results of our trek to the center of the earth. That way they know they can stop the evac for now." Azure lead her to a large stone building, the steps of which were cracked and the statue out front had toppled over and lay in chunks.

"That tremor really did a number on the city." Serene murmured.

Azure looked around. "It was a big one. But we always seem to survive. I'm sure they'll have some plan to rebuild soon, and I don't think they can refuse the help of the Federation anymore. I think they might finally be ready to see the benefits of a partnership with the Federation."

"I'm not sure they should stop the evacuation, at least not until you get a real scientist looking at the data… the damaged infrastructure alone… when dad gets here he'll help." Serene's thoughts were like a runaway train, jumping from track to track.

"You might be right," Azure said spying more ruin as they carefully ascended the steps.

Serene shook the ash out of her hair as they slipped inside. "So who we got to talk to here?"

Risa's father stood with a group of others, one of which was the mayor, hunched over a large table with a map spread out on it. He spotted them and stood to his full height, "Ms. Amatruse, what have you and your friend found? Was your plan a success?" he asked hopefully.

"Temporarily anyway." Serene blurted out, even though they'd not addressed her. "Though, you might want to keep an eye on that chamber of magma right below your city." Despite the words she chose, her tone of voice was light and playful.

"What she means is, we were able to divert the magma and lava flow to the sea on the other side of the mountains, so for now, we've temporarily made things, ah, better," she said for the lack of a better word. "But a Federation Scientist is the best person to answer any long term questions."

"You say the chamber was right below us this whole time?"

"Afraid so. We did our best to empty it in a less destructive way, but again, not our area of expertise," Azure said.

"She means I like to blow things…"

Serene didn't get to finished her thought as at that exact moment, six transporter beams deposited six people right into the council chamber. They all wore black jumpsuits, carried starfleet issue gear and were armed.

Serene spun on her heels. "Hey Dad, what kept you?"

The human man at the front of the group stepped forward. Short, black, military styled hair and hard lines on his face would convince anyone that he was a career soldier more than a Starfleet Admiral, yet his expression softened as he leaned down and scooped up Serene in a giant hug.

"Admiral, it's good to see you," Azure said snapping to attention.

At the Admiral's side, a Vulcan woman with long brown hair replied. "I believe Ensign that your best course of action is to, 'be at ease.'"

"Right." Azure visibly relaxed.

The Admiral set Serene down. "So what's the situation? We nearly burnt out the warp engines getting here as fast as we could."

Azure opened her mouth to explain but was cut off.

"Who the the hell are you and how did you get in here?" the startled mayor asked with a raised voice.

Serene stepped in. "You're looking at the one and only Admiral Sean Cunningham, my dad, of the HMS _Guenidier_, Starfleet's finest independent task force."

If it were possible, the vulcan woman next to Serene would've groaned. Azure was sure she could see it in the way the vulcan placed a hand on the Admiral's shoulder.

"We're here to help." Sean clarified. "I've already deployed teams with emergency supplies throughout the city."

Azure let out a sigh. "Admiral, may I present Mayor Kyransu." She then quickly added, "And that was a transporter beam. They're pretty handy for getting from ship to planet."

Sean extended a hand in a very human greeting. "Pleasure to meet you."

The mayor looked down at the hand, not sure what to do with it. He bowed. "An honor, Admiral. What sort of help can you offer? Ms. Amatruse said something about evaluating the volcano to see if what she and your daughter did worked."

"Emergency supplies, evacuation aid, infrastructure repair." Sean replied, dropping the hand back at his side. "I've got two more ships en route that will be here tomorrow, substantially bigger ones that will be able to do more."

The Vulcan woman stepped forward. "I will be able to assist you with the volcanic activity on your planet. Our ship has advanced sensors and we do have a large science team."

Risa's father stepped forward, "I'd be happy to show your team where you can set up."

The Vulcan woman politely nodded for him to lead the way.

The two disappeared down a hallway.

Mayor Kyransu looked back at the Admiral, then back towards Azure. "So what do we do now?"

"The Federation helps everyone get back on their feet, so to speak. They can help us in the evac and in relocating those that need to be until we get things back up and running," Azure explained.

"If only so I can keep my daughter from blowing up a mountain on your planet." Sean placed a hand on Serene's shoulder. "She probably didn't tell you what she did on her last mission."

Serene elbowed her dad in response. "Not fair!"

Azure winced. "Technically, the mountain was already going to blow up, and she didn't blow up the mountain per se, she just put a hole in the side of it so the magma would have an alternative exit route, this time at least." The mayor and the other officials exchanged confused and worried glances. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't go too crazy." She didn't add, I hope.

XXX

Less than a day later, the Vulcan woman Klena's research team had determined that the fix had defused the worst of the volcanic activity for now. The Guendier's accompanying ships had arrived and even now the town was filled with engineers working to repair the damage. While the cleanup was in progress, the citizens had all been moved to other towns on Geman.

From orbit the ash cloud was still visible, but was beginning to dissipate. It seemed surreal almost to Azure as she looked down at her planet from behind the transparent aluminum window on the front of the Admiral's ship in the mess hall.

The bubbly blond appeared next to her. "So… how's home? Things all settled down there?"

Azure turned around to face Serene. "Almost. Seems the volcano will be dormant for now, and if enough time passes, we can consider it extinct. But, that's going to be a long way off." She pulled out a seat and sat down. "As for the other things...I think saving the city finally made my aunt and uncle - especially my uncle - change their minds. They say they are proud of me, and that they are sorry they disowned me when I left. So, all in all, mission accomplished." She flashed Serene a smile.

"Great." Serene sat down on the table behind them. "So now for a bit of an introduction to my family… what do you know about ice hockey?"

"We don't have ice on my planet. The first time I saw snow was on Deimos. However, I did see some clips of hockey when at the academy, but that's it."

"Come down to the USS _Hailstorm's_ auxiliary sports deck, trust me, you won't regret it."

Azure cringed. "I have a feeling that I am."

Serene chuckled. "Oh and be sure to invite your friends from down on the planet."

XXX

Azure wasn't sure what to make of the noise when she, Risa, Kai, and Malachi arrived. The sounds of earthborn metal music filled the air and likely several hundred people all talking at once turned it all to white noise. A set of stairs lead up towards where all of it was coming from.

"Well, here goes," Azure said taking the lead up the stairs.

"So they're going to skate around on ice using blades strapped to their shoes, and try to put a small back disc into a net?" Malachi asked making sure he understood.

"Something like that."

"I'm game!" Kai said all smiles.

"Is it supposed to be this cold here?" Risa asked. Like the others, she didn't have any cold weather gear.

"Yes," Azure said.

As they rose over the top, in the center of stands filled with will starfleet officers wearing black was what they'd quickly come to realize was an ice rink. A massive scoreboard shimmered into holographic existence in the center. Team names appeared above their respective sides. _Command Slackers_ and _Lower Deck Renegades. _Serene was nowhere to be seen.

This left the group of Gemans slightly confused. Serene's description had been vague… but that was hardly abnormal for Serene.

"Here, there's some seats together," Azure said indicated some seats on the other side of a couple of Andorians. Azure didn't give them a second glance, having seen plenty of them, and even routed around inside a couple when she assisted with surgery once or twice. The others on the other hand, momentarily stared before turning away embarrassed.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and those of you who may be mono-gendered." A woman's voice boomed over the rink. "We're proud to bring you a very special event tonight, an exhibition match between the Command Slackers and the Lower Deck Renegades. Let's start off the evening by introducing our team captains."

"Mono-gendered?" Risa asked totally confused.

"Don't ask," Azure said waving her hand at her childhood friend. "It would take too long for me to explain. Let's just say that life in the universe is varied and has a lot of different forms."

The rink was suddenly alive with activity as two full teams skated out onto the ice. One wore black, the other a bright shade of purple. Four skaters descended to the center of the ice, where a Vulcan man in a black and white striped jersey stood.

"Representing the Command Slackers is our very own Admiral, Sean Cunningham and his wife Klena." The announcers voice boomed once again.

There was a mix of cheers and jeers in response.

"Representing the Lower Deck Renegades, back from years of retirement and only recently returned, Siruzu Omalee and Ensign Serene Cunningham!"

Azure was sure she heard the word "fight" being screamed over and over again throughout the rink. Through it all, Azure caught a thumbs up from Serene on the far end of the ice. How the human had even seen her was beyond her.

"So this is what humans do for entertainment?" Malachi asked.

"Siruzu and Klena aren't human, but yes, it is a human sport."

Malachi shook his head. "Strange."

Azure laughed. "Not half as strange as some of the stuff I've seen in the last ten years."

Kai had spotted a group of security officers in the row below them eating a collection of earth snacks and moved to ask them what they were. Always the one to stuff his face, he quickly set off in the direction they indicated. He returned a few minutes later with a cardboard tray laden with food.

Risa looked at it with disdain. "What in the name of the gods is that?"

"Nachos, and a hot dog with mustard, and root beer," he pointed to the corn chips smothered in piping hot cheese, lifted up the hot dog and root beer in turn as he named them.

Risa sniffed and crinkled her nose.

"Don't forget to share!" Azure leaned over and grabbed a tortilla chip. "The nachos are quite good actually. Tried them at the Academy." She bit down on one and smiled. "Now can we just watch the game? It's not every day an Admiral lets loose this way. Besides if our people are going to attempt to be allies now, you might as well get to know your new friends."

With the help of The Federation, repairs for the city were well under way, and at a faster rate than could have been accomplished otherwise. The more advanced methods were going a long way to restoring things. Power and water had been restored in a couple of days instead of weeks, and some of the businesses were already open again. Plus, the Geman engineers seemed truly eager to learn from the Federation engineers, amazed and impressed by the tech they brought. Not to mention the government finally admitting that something other than a trade agreement might actually be in their best interest.

As for Azure and her family, things weren't back to the way there were, but they were much, much better. After hearing of Azure, and of course Serene's, heroics to save the city, her uncle had been more open to accepting Azure's chosen profession. They family had a chance to sit down and talk out their differences, and Azure was able to tell them the work she did. Serene hadn't hesitated to tell them how Azure had helped save the life of an Admiral during their last mission, leaving out the classified bits of course. The admitted that while the didn't necessarily like her choice when she made it, but they could see it what it had done for Azure and accept it. And Azure could live with that. And it was all thanks to Serene. It was nice to have her old friends back too, you could never have too many friends, especially best friends.

And the opportunity to see Serene slam her father, the Admiral, into the boards in Ice Hockey was priceless. After all, that wasn't something you got to see every day.


End file.
